Iran says to maintain military presence in Syria despite U.S. pressure

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LONDON (Reuters) - Iran will maintain its military presence in Syria despite U.S. pressure for its withdrawal, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday, revealing more details about a military cooperation deal that Tehran and Damascus signed this week.

Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami visited Damascus on Saturday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior military officials. He signed a deal for military cooperation in a meeting with his Syrian counterpart, but details of the accord were not revealed.

“The continued presence of Iranian (military) advisers in Syria was part of this military cooperation agreement between Tehran and Damascus,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Tehran’s military attache to Damascus, Abolqassem Alinejad, as saying.

“Iran will help Syria in clearing minefields in different parts of the country... Iran will help Syria to rebuild the military factories that were damaged in the war,” Alinejad said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have sent weapons and thousands of soldiers to Syria to help shore up Assad during the seven-year-long civil war there.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reiterated last week Washington’s call for Iran to remove all its forces from Syria.

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions against Iran partly over its involvement in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen as well as over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Israel has also long called for its arch foe Iran to withdraw from its neighbour Syria. The Israeli air force has carried out scores of air strikes against Iran’s allies there.

“The pact between Syria and Iran for rehabilitating the Assad army is an excuse and a facade meant to grant legitimacy to the Iranian forces remaining in the area,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Ynet TV on Tuesday. “But as far as we are concerned, no machinations keeping the Iranians in the area will be acceptable.”

A senior Israeli official said in an anonymous statement to reporters that Israel’s military “will continue to act with full determination against attempts by Iran to transfer military forces and weapons systems to Syria”.

Iran has repeatedly said its military presence in Syria is at the invitation of the Assad government and that it has no immediate plans to withdraw. More than 1,000 Iranians, including senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, have been killed in Syria since 2012.

The Guards initially kept quiet about their role in Syria. But in recent years as casualties have mounted they have been more outspoken, framing their engagement as an existential struggle against Sunni Muslim fighters of Islamic State who see Shi’ites that form Iran’s majority as apostates.